It is only since 2019 that I started working with the library system, and 2023 since I started my MLIS journey, but I have always been an avid library patron. Throughout my childhood, the highlight of my weekends would be visits to my local library, and pulling anything that looked remotely interesting off the shelves to take home. I still remember hitting the limit of items that it was possible to check out, and having to borrow a book cart to ferry my prizes out to the car! I would sit and read for hours, absorbing story after story - it seemed inevitable that I would turn this passion into a career.
I gained experience with the back-end of library services when I started to volunteer at the library during high school for those all-important service hours, but it was only after returning from college that I fully entered the library's employ. As an Aide in 2019, I cut my teeth on shelving, checkin, and occasional restickering of items, but the reference desk called to me. Fast forward to 2022, when I jumped up to the role of Library Assistant in Oakley. This library offered higher levels of responsibility, the challenge of renewing the relationship with teenage patrons, and the opportunity to run my own programming events! Oakley was a fantastic place to develop my skills - and determine that I was going to start my MLIS degree.
When I began taking classes, I feared that full-time work and full-time classes would be difficult to undertake, and so I shifted laterally, and a little upwards, to Crockett. As a Library Assistance Advanced, I am in charge of the day-to-day affairs of a whole library branch! Myself and an Aide are the only staff present, meaning that opening and closing procedures, banking responsibilities, planning and executing programming, and everything else that could occur is my responsibility. I have greatly enjoyed this role, both for the opportunities to grow it has afforded me, as well as the challenges I have been able to test my mettle against. With the completion of my MLIS degree, I feel excited to take the next steps towards full Librarianship.
An e-Portfolio takes the place of a thesis for the completion of a Masters in Library and Information Science. As such, it addresses a wide range of topics, and is backed up by my coursework, my work experience, and explanatory essays. Specifically, this e-Portfolio was created to demonstrate my competency in each of the 14 core competencies that are at the heart of SJSU's MLIS program. With such a breath of elements, including exploring information retrieval systems, studying research design, curating collections, and analyzing metadata, I feel that this program has well prepared me for all aspects of library work.
In order to create this document, as mentioned above, I assembled a collection of coursework from across my MLIS program. Three artifacts (videos, essays, group projects, or work experience) were selected for their connection to each competency. Before presenting these artifacts, however, I introduced each competency with a discussion of the principles at hand, as well as how they had been implemented in the past and present. Additionally, I outlined how my work experience and class assignments had allowed me to hone my skills with this competency – or build brand-new pathways. Finally, after presenting each of the three documents, I ended with a brief conclusion, summarizing what I had learned, and how I plan to use that information going forward. In developing this e-Portfolio, the majority of my time was spent selecting which classwork or career experience best represented each individual competency, so that I could appropriately demonstrate my proficiency with that particular competency.
This content is organized according to the 14 Competencies posed to me by San Jose State University. Each Competency has its own page on this website, where the introductory essays, artifacts, and justifications for those artifacts can be examined. Browsing is made simple and easy with the dropdown menu in the top right of this page – or by clicking the Competencies tab, buttons with access to the specific pages can be found. I organized this website in alphabetical order, starting with Competency A, and going all the way through to Competency O. Finally, all of my artifacts are hosted in a Google Drive folder, so that the links to my works stay safe and up-to-date.
There are a few assignments that I am particularly proud of in my e-Portfolio. The first of these is the assignment I completed for INFO 210: Reference Information Services. In my final project for this class, I analyzed a sample of 100 emails that had been sent in to an online reference chat, trying to determine if preprepared messages could deliver the answers that patrons needed. This assignment was not only interesting to complete, but also allowed me to present the results of my findings to my supervisor, and offer a possible path forward for more effective email reference replies in the future. I also feel very satisfied by my feltboard storytime presentation of Albert’s Tree, by Jenni Desmond. I have read this book at several storytimes now, and the inclusion of feltboard animals was the perfect addition to encourage audience engagement. One of the last artifacts that I want to call specific attention to is one of the first that I completed in my MLIS coursework. The final paper in INFO 261: Programming and Services for Young Adults, was one that conducted a full review of the teen space at the branch where I had been working. I believe that this analysis is both fair and critical, and offers research-backed advice on how to build on the current successes – and improve on the weaker areas – of the teen space at the Oakley Public Library.
By now it is likely obvious that the assignments that I feel best represent the work that I have done in striving to complete my MLIS are the ones that had a direct connection to my existing library work. This is true, as the direct connections between my studies and my career allowed me to truly see the benefits of my classwork in real time. And while these examples are some of the assignments that I am the most proud of, the rest of my assignments were just as applicable to my work in the field of library science. So please, welcome to my e-Portfolio, and I hope you enjoy exploring the work I’ve completed!